Worth Fighting For - PUBLISHED

Chapter 5

Nova

For the last few years, Mia and I have been boxing at the local gym since the owner is someone I know. It also happens to be a popular place for the Yale kids, so there's plenty of classes for us to join.

I meet Mia outside of the girl's locker room before heading in. To our surprise, no other girls are here. I hoped that we were the only girls in jiu-jitsu, but I didn't think I would be right. I like that it's just the two of us.

I take in the feel of the gym again. The combined smell of sweat and leather is something only people who love MMA can appreciate, but there's also the smell of stinky feet that lingers in the room no matter how often it's cleaned. Unpleasant, but something you get used to.

There are heavy bags in three corners of the main part of the gym, with speed bags in the other. A black cage for people to spar sits in the middle of the main gym with an extra in the back, and there are various mats in the open-floor room for people to roll around on.

As we make it to the cage, we see a group of guys waiting around, presumably for our coach. I take a glance at them, wondering who I'd spar with given the opportunity. Every gym I've been to, including the one my dad owned, the guys have always shit on girls doing MMA because they think we aren't capable.

Wrong. And I made sure to make that point the first time I was challenged when I was sixteen. I remember the pride on my dad's face when I handed the big guy his ass after putting him in an armbar.

I take in the various guys. Some big and some small, before my eyes scan to the opposite side of the room. I do a double take to ensure that what I'm seeing is right. Across the gym standing at the opposite end of the guys stands Liam and Seth, both waiting for the class to start.

"Mia, look who it is," I say as I nudge her to look in their direction.

"Holy shit," she laughs. "What a coincidence. I bet you're happy," Mia winks.

I laugh a little. "He's great, yeah, but I'm more surprised than anything. I didn't know he boxed MMA."

"In his defense, you only knew him for like two hours before you slept with him and the next morning didn't consist of much talking after breakfast, of course."

"True," I agree.

The minutes tick by in a buzz of anticipation while we all wait for the coach to arrive. Mia's eyes shamelessly wander the males in attendance. But I can't seem to look anywhere but at Liam as he immerses himself in conversation with one of the other guys.

His lack of shirt draws my appreciative eyes to the tattoo that graces his body from his chest and down the entirety of his arm. I wasn't paying much attention to his naked glory that night we met, but here and now, I see it all...and I'm fucking mesmerized.

A shield made of knots, Celtic if I had to guess, decorates the upper right side of his sculpted chest. It's breathtaking as it is but in a move of artistic genius, the soft edge seems to travel up his shoulder and over his right bicep. It transforms, like magic, into a series of clouds that make up a moody night sky. And that's not even the best part.

The glow of a full moon shines down on a sea of stormy waves, settled just below the clouds. And underneath that, a sandy beach, littered with a collection of intricate seashells. It's like a layered masterpiece on his arm, the whole thing stretching from shoulder to forearm, offering something new to look at with every inch. The details are incredible. It must have taken hours to do.

What's even more intriguing is that the sand isn't only strewn with seashells. Upon closer look, I can see that as the beach trails down his forearm, it converts into a graveyard with skeletons peeking out, their arms reaching toward the sky. Interesting. And deep. Like the ocean. Like his eyes.